Introducing Elizabeth Letts, author of ‘The Eighty-Dollar Champion’

Everything that Elizabeth Letts knows, she learned from her horses. She spent her childhood training horses, riding them, and giving riding lessons. In 1976, she and her horse, Pretty Boy Floyd, competed in the 1976 Olympic Selection Trials and the National Junior Three Day Event Championships. Eventually, Elizabeth moved on and trained as a nurse-midwife. Despite gaining all the accoutrements of an ordinary life—four children, a husband, a dog, and a job—her love for horses took over when she began writing books. The Eighty-Dollar Champion is her first book.

The Eighty-Dollar Champion tells the true story of an underdog: a former plowhorse named Snowman and a young riding instructor who rose to the top of show jumping. When Harry deLeyer first bought Snowman, he possessed a growing family and little cash. The former plowhorse soon showed his mettle by jumping six-foot high fences, and Harry had found a champion who would stun both the sleek thoroughbreds and their wealthy owners at the highest echelons of show-jumping. A tale of inspiration and unlikely success during the dark days of the Cold War, The Eighty-Dollar Champion introduces us to the unlikely pair that rose above their poor beginnings and captured the hearts and dreams of a nation.

To book an event with Elizabeth Letts, please contact Dawn Stuart (dawn@terracommunications.net).